


Almost There

by kayura_sanada



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: A Little House Fire, Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack-ish, Established Relationship, Exhaustion, M/M, Sleep Deprivation, Terra Is Overworked, Thesis, let him rest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 02:03:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20368834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayura_sanada/pseuds/kayura_sanada
Summary: Terra’s writing his thesis and wearing himself out in the process. But don’t worry! Ven’s here to help. A bit crack-ish.Fills the “Worked Themselves to Exhaustion” space in my Bad Things Happen bingo card.





	Almost There

Terra groaned. He leaned back, away from the computer, and scrubbed at his eyes. They felt like, if he blinked, his eyelids might just crack apart. His head throbbed. His eye had started twitching a couple of hours ago, so that was fun to deal with, too.

He pushed back from the computer desk, his head spinning so badly he feared he might fall off the chair. Maybe he should take another nap? But he’d already lost three hours that way, and he still had another eight hundred or so words to go.

“How goes it?” Ven asked. He stepped into the room, the office door creaking open behind him. Terra sent Ven a squinted look.

“I’m not even done the third chapter,” he moaned. “I haven’t even started the conclusion. I have about two days left.”

Ven held out a cup of coffee. Terra slurped at it greedily. “The third chapter’s just about the different woodworking tools between the pre-Dark Ages era and ours, right?”

Terra sucked on the last vestiges of the coffee and set the cup aside. Ven picked it up without a word. “It’s not like the tools have really changed, and there’s not enough left for us to properly examine. Why did I ever choose this topic again?”

“Because you wanted to write about it and not many people choose to talk about wood over stone in the art world,” Ven answered easily. Almost as if Terra had spoken excitedly about it before the time crunch had started catching up with him. Ven patted his head. “I’ll grab another cup.”

“Thank you,” Terra said, scrubbing at his eyes again. His left eye would _not_ stop twitching.

He leaned back in, his back twitching in protest as he started typing… only to stop and look back over his notes. He heard Ven moving around in the kitchen; they lived in a tiny, shared flat, having moved out together once Ven turned eighteen. It had been on Ven’s insistence; Ven had wanted to move forward in their relationship, and without the ‘you’re still in high school!’ excuse Terra had been using, there hadn’t been anything to stop them.

He thought back on the move as he threw a quote he liked into the rampant mix of bull he was trying to turn into logic on his computer screen. Ven hadn’t taken his hesitation for an answer, not once. Maybe it was because he always had this shining will within him – the same strength of will that was leading him to a social worker’s degree while Terra played around with woodworking like the sad artist trope he was. The thought made him smile. The retorts that he was going to be a moocher had made Ven laugh. “How can you mooch off me when you’re trying so hard?” Or when Terra had feared Ven being too young. “How can I be too young when you’re just as much a novice as I am?”

Terra rubbed his temples. He needed to focus.

Ven returned with the same cup, beautiful brown liquid sloshing once again inside. He took more care this time, simply sipping the coffee, finally giving himself enough time to actually taste it. He smiled. As usual, Ven had made it perfectly. “Your homework?” he asked, his brain finally kicking on again.

“I have a couple of chapters to read and an essay due in two weeks.” Ven leaned down and kissed Terra’s forehead. “I’ll be fine. It’s only one class.”

“Just focus on your work before anything else,” Terra said. Ven rolled his eyes.

“Yes, mom.”

Terra wrinkled his nose. “Okay, hold on.” He reached out. Ven paused, then politely stepped into Terra’s flailing arm so he could grab him. He pulled Ven down for a kiss. Ven obliged, fitting their lips together and licking at Terra’s tongue before laughing and pulling away.

“You taste like coffee.” Ven pecked his lips again. “Probably for the best. Have you brushed your teeth recently?”

Terra grimaced again. “Get.”

Ven laughed all the way out of the room.

Terra smiled. All right. Time to keep typing. He could do this.

* * *

“Ven! I give up. It’s too much.”

He heard footsteps coming from the living room, then got to see Ven’s laughing face poke around the door. “Too much computer and too little wood?”

Terra scowled, then flopped dramatically in the chair. It squeaked in protest. “They had less tools than previous eras. It should be _easier.”_

Ven laughed. He shuffled in, his gaze flickering to the computer, then to the window and the setting sun. Less than two days, now. Terra was horribly aware of the passage of time. “You’re the one who wanted to focus on how they chose what they did and how that altered woodworking into a prosperous commodity.”

Terra groaned. “I _know_. I’m an idiot.”

Ven laughed again.

Without bothering to wait for Terra to get around to asking, Ven came in and draped himself over Terra’s back. “Progress?” Ven whispered. The word ghosted over Terra’s ear. He shivered.

“I’m almost done the third chapter. Just about two or three more paragraphs? Then it’s on to the conclusion.”

“So you have one and a half days to write the conclusion and possibly look over the intro.” Ven patted his chest. “Finish the third chapter, then come to bed.”

“I have to work,” Terra said immediately.

“I’ll give you something else to focus on instead.” Ven kissed his cheek, adding an unnecessary lick of tongue. Terra’s stomach flipped. Ven left.

Terra stared at the computer screen. “Darn it, Ven, now I can’t concentrate at all!”

For someone who had better be just as suddenly frustrated as Terra, Ven sure sounded like he found the whole thing hilarious.

* * *

Terra cracked his eyes open.

It was still dark out, but only barely. His heart flipped at the pre-gray of dawn. He scrambled up, shoving the bedding off. Ven made a very loud, very incoherent protest. Terra climbed over him and out of the bed.

“Terra?” Ven blinked his eyes open. “Wha…?”

“Oh, no.” He stared at the digital clock as if it had chosen to betray him. “It’s already five-thirty.” He ran from the room.

“‘Already?’ Jesus.” Ven rolled around and went back to sleep.

* * *

He still had his entire conclusion to finish, and then he needed to revise the introduction. He had so much to wrap up and so little time. He ran a hand through his hair, only to make a face at the clumpy feel of it. Shower. He needed a shower.

Later.

The conclusion was supposed to focus on all of the points he’d made, but when he tried to condense it, all he could think about was more things he’d have liked to talk about. Then there were the quotes – thankfully, he didn’t need as many here as in the intro, which with its word count limit looked like the quotes were going to drown out any chance in hell of him getting a word in edgewise. He noted a single journal entry’s quip about the logging industry affecting the need for carpentry as an occupational medium and chugged out a couple more sentences on the change from multiple large-scale tools to predominantly small-scale. Then he thunked his head on his desk and considered diving out of the window.

Ven got up eventually, and he once again brought Terra coffee, since he’d forgotten to so much as eat. With one look at him, Ven rolled his eyes and came back again with a sandwich. “I thought about making you breakfast,” Ven said when Terra raised a brow, “but I knew that anything that involved actually stopping for a second would just go cold.”

Terra grimaced. True. “Thank you,” he said. Ven just huffed at him and kissed him on the brow again. “No better kisses until you eat and brush your teeth.” Ven wrinkled his nose. “And shower.”

Terra grinned. “Not a grunge fan?”

“Not when I’m clean and you’re not.”

Terra took that one on the chin. Still, he reached out and grabbed Ven’s hand again as he made to leave. “Seriously,” he said. “Thank you.”

“Ugh.” Ven shoved at Terra’s shoulder. “You’re such a sap.” He hesitated. “I’m rooting for you. You can do this. When I come home, we can celebrate you getting your conclusion done.”

It was clearly a ‘focus and get your work done’ thing. Terra mimicked Ven’s words in a high-pitched voice as Ven left the room again. He grumbled and glared at the computer screen. It was just the conclusion. He could do this.

* * *

Ven walked through the door. “How far are you?”

Terra groaned. “Just let me _die.”_

Ven laughed. “Is the conclusion done?”

Terra glared at the screen. “Maybe?”

Ven rounded the corner into the room, already tugging at the hem of his shirt. “Either you’re done or you’re not, Terra.” It didn’t hold any bite to it. Terra looked over his shoulder to see Ven’s smile disappear underneath his shirt. Ven tugged it off and threw it over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Terra asked, unable to help staring at those abs.

“Taking a shower.”

Terra frowned. “You already took one this morning?” He looked outside. “Is it that hot? Did your class go outside today for some reason?”

“Why on earth would a psychology class go outside?” Ven chuckled. “No. You and I are taking a shower.”

“But – But I just said I wasn’t done the conclusion?”

“No, you said you _might_ be done with the conclusion. Which means you’ve been staring at it so long you’ve forgotten what words look like.”

Okay, that was accurate, but he didn’t have to say it out loud. “I still haven’t revised the intro. And this is just the first draft.”

“Which is all that’s due tomorrow. The final draft is due two weeks from tomorrow. Come here.”

Terra looked back at his computer screen, wondering once again if he should keep that quote in or substitute it for another that, while from a journal essay he’d referenced three times before already, was a better choice. “Terra!”

He looked back to see Ven nearly completely undressed. He fumbled to his feet. “I’m coming!”

“Not yet, you’re not.”

* * *

The shower felt like heaven. Terra hadn’t known how gross he felt until he was actually getting himself clean. The warm water also helped to wake him up; he felt like it was soaking into his pores, revitalizing him. Ven’s fingers on the jut of his hips helped, too.

“So you only have the intro left, and then the draft is off to the professor for some last-minute revisions, right?”

“I’m still not sure about the last paragraph.”

Ven slid water-slick fingers down Terra’s legs and yanked at his thighs. Terra stumbled into Ven. “_Only_ the intro.”

He cleared his throat. Ven’s lips moved over his collarbone. “Yup.”

“And revisions can wait until the day after tomorrow, because the professor will need time to read your paper.”

He jerked. “You want me to waste the whole day?!”

“It’s Sunday and I won’t have any summer classes to go to.” Ven nipped at his skin. “So yes, we are taking the day off.”

_We._ That was right; Terra may have been the one writing the thesis, but Ven was the one helping him with food and laundry and taking care of himself every day beyond that. Terra’s frustration and stress must have been eating away at Ven, too. Walking into the house from class was probably like walking into a field of lasers. Had Terra eaten? Had he gotten dressed? Was he surrounded by books and papers again? Was he at the end of his rope?

He looked at Ven, at the long, wiry frame that Ven had grown into past his high school years. His hair was matted to his skull as the water sluiced over him. Instead of complaining about it, Ven had simply done what he could to help Terra out.

Terra nuzzled Ven’s face. He pressed kisses into Ven’s neck until he got the choked, ticklish laugh he’d been looking for. “Agh! What’s this about?”

“Yes,” he said. He pulled back up and grinned down at his best friend and lover. “I’ll check over the intro this evening, turn the rough draft in, and hang out with you tomorrow.”

Ven grinned. He pressed Terra up against the wall. Water patted against their sides, nearly getting in their eyes. Well. Ven’s eyes. Terra was too tall for that. “Sounds good. Want an intro to what we’d be doing?” Ven pressed closer. Terra could feel just how interested Ven was. Nearly as interested as him. He nodded. Ven leaned his lips close, right to the point where Terra’s jaw met his ear. “Then…” He backed away. “Finish doing your hair and your intro, and I’ll show you in bed.” Ven whirled around and got out of the shower.

Terra groaned.

“Better hurry up, there, Terra!”

He cursed. Hurry up his foot. It was gonna take a couple of minutes for him to be able to concentrate on anything other than what Ven had left him with. “I’ll get you back for this!” he called out.

Ven just laughed at him. “Good luck with that!”

* * *

Intros _sucked_.

There was a word count limit on the entire thesis, the intro demanded an overview of _everything_, and a ridiculous number of sources were expected to be used in it. All that, and he was still supposed to get his own opinions crammed in there somewhere. By the time he was done, the sun had once again beaten a hasty retreat, the clock on the computer was mocking him with quadruple digits, and he was ready to gouge his brain out with a spork. Still, it was done. Well. The rough draft was done.

“Good enough,” he muttered, so done with the entire thing he was willing to burn it to the ground. He saved his progress, backed it up on a flash drive – nothing like his computer crashing his first year into his master’s for him to learn paranoia habits – and scooted the hell out of the chair. He stood and stretched his back. It made far too many old man popping sounds for his liking.

“Ven!” he called. “I’m done!” He walked out of the room to find the lights off. Oh, shit. He’d taken long enough that Ven had fallen asleep. He walked into the living room, intent on grabbing a drink from the fridge, only to stop. Ven’s books sat on the coffee table. They were scattered everywhere, little notes in the margins, as usual, his notebooks out. He must have been studying. Terra looked over the notes. His brows rose. Ven hadn’t mentioned a test – or an essay.

Clearly, Ven had been keeping the harder parts of his schoolwork to himself to keep Terra from worrying. He rubbed his eyes. Great. Now he felt like a heel.

He went to grab his drink, his mind on how to make up for the past few weeks, only to stop again. The refrigerator light shone out into the darkness, nearly blinding him. The moment his eyes adjusted, however, he saw the very obvious form of a plate in the middle of the top shelf. Aluminum foil shone blindingly against the fluorescent lighting. An energy drink sat beside it.

He smiled. He had to be the luckiest man in the world.

Terra took out the food and, with eating and sleeping the only things on his mind, slapped it into the microwave.

Thirty seconds later he was punching the microwave door open and throwing a cup of water on the flaming aluminum foil. Maybe he should just focus on sleeping first.

* * *

Ven just kept laughing. Tears leaked out of his eyes onto the pillow. Terra puffed out his cheeks. “It’s not that funny! It scared me to death. I thought I’d burned the house down!”

“God, Terra! Just. _God.”_

Terra rubbed the back of his head. The house still smelled like burned plastic. The food hadn’t been salvageable, and worse, even though he’d thrown the windows wide open, he’d started the fire alarm. Every single one of their neighbors probably hated him right now, and he’d ended up waking Ven in a panic.

He pouted. “Sorry, Ven.” He poked Ven’s side. It only made Ven laugh harder, though he did try a little to slap Terra’s hand away. “This is not how I wanted to start our day off.”

Ven peeked one teary eye open, only to laugh all over again. “It’s _perfect_.” Still laughing, Ven sat up in bed and wiped his eyes. “You’re _such _an idiot sometimes. God, I love you.” Terra had no idea how to respond to that, but he accepted Ven’s kiss easily enough. It was wet. Ven wiped the dampness from Terra’s lips as he pulled away. “I say we use this chance to go out somewhere, maybe get you some real food.”

Terra gave Ven a wobbly smile. “I would love to. But if I drive, I’m going to crash us into a curb.”

Ven hummed, thinking it over for a bit. “Then how about I give you something else to snack on?”

Terra flushed. “Ven–”

“Here, I’ll whip up another sandwich.” And Ven rolled out of bed. Terra’s jaw dropped. Ven made it all the way to the kitchen before he burst out laughing.

“You…!” He surged up from the bed. “You smart-A!”

Ven cackled. “Just cuss already!”

Terra grabbed a pillow and stomped out of the room, ready to smother his lover. “I’m gonna do much worse than cuss!”

“Oh, _no_,” Ven mocked. “What_ever_ shall I _do_.”

In fact, he did not have to do much of anything. Terra was awake enough to take care of things all on his own.

* * *

“Agh! Someone just murder me!” He slammed his hands on the keyboard – then carefully deleted the garbled message and glared at his word count again.

“If someone murders you, then we can’t have sex after you finally accept that you’re done and turn in the final draft!”

“Who says I’m done!” he grumbled, carefully deleting and then typing in the exact same word in that exact same space.

“I do.” Ven entered the room with a spoon in one hand. He shoved it into Terra’s mouth, then used his distraction to save the file and shut it down. Terra frowned at the taste before grabbing the spoon handle and pulling it out. Terra opened his mouth to give a critique, only to find Ven’s lips on his, his tongue already chasing after the taste. When Ven pulled away, Terra nearly forgot how to spell ‘chili.’ Ven grinned in triumph. “Now come out here and save this dinner before I ruin it completely.”

Terra grinned back, stood, and stretched. His thesis was finally done. It was time to finally put his next project into motion.

He wondered how Ven would feel about a winter wedding.


End file.
